http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...g=aw-carlesimofired112208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns After losing 12 of 13 games to start the season, P.J. Carlesimo has been fired as Oklahoma City Thunder coach, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Assistant Scott Brooks will take over as the interim coach beginning with Saturday night’s game against the Hornets in New Orleans. The final indignity for Carlesimo was a mortifying 105-80 loss to the Hornets on Friday night in Oklahoma City. General manager Sam Presti informed Carlesimo of the decision before the team boarded the flight to Louisiana. Before the feeble start to this season, Carlesimo was 20-62 a season ago in Seattle. As the assistant GM in San Antonio, Presti had worked with Carlesimo, an aide on Gregg Popovich’s coaching staff. Presti and owner Clay Bennett considered firing him over the summer, but allowed Carlesimo a second chance to salvage his job. With a roster gutted of veterans, this was a difficult job from the start. After building a reputation as an unrepentant screamer in his first two NBA jobs in Portland and Golden State, Carlesimo sold himself as reformed with a five-year stay on Popovich’s staff. He insisted that he learned the art of developing relationships with players under the four-time champion Spurs coach, but several sources insisted that he reverted back to the strident ways that precipitated the Latrell Sprewell attack in 1997. In parts of eight seasons as an NBA coach with Portland, Golden State and Seattle-Oklahoma City, Carlesimo had a 204-296 record. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...g=aw-carlesimofired112208&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Yes things will get better. The players weren't even trying half the time. The Thunder won't win a lot of games but you have to fire the coach when the players quit on him. 1-12 is unacceptable.
he's a really good coach, but maybe not the best teacher for a young team. carlesimo and saunders will be two heavyweights on the coaching carousel this summer.
Neither guy is a coaching "heavyweight". I promise you Carlesimo will never get another head coaching job in the NBA. Saunders might.
Saunders would probably be a better coach for this group than P.J. They've been the worst offensive team in the league the last few years, and Saunders is one of the best offensive coaches around. I think there might be something to the Phil Jackson approach of getting young teams to learn how to play on offense first, and then let the defensive identity come in later.
as it stands now, this summer they will be the big names. thus they are the heavyweights of this summer. i know they aren't the best of the best when you talk about all of the coaches. i'm talking about potential available coaches this summer. saunders is a very good coach and IMO will surely get another job. pj will need the right situation or will have to settle for an assistant gig.
Thunder is a college team. It has the worst stats in most categories. A new coach wont save them. Who's next? Mike Dunleavy or Eddie Jordan. I'd fire Mike Dunleavy last season. I always think the Clippers talents > results. Not a single reason for the Clips to be 2-10.
I'm sorry, but Carlesimo isn't a "heavyweight" by any definition. There will never be a "right situation" for him as a head coach in the NBA. Stick a fork in the guy. Once he left Golden State, his career was done. He was fine assisting Pop but this crash and burn job with the Sonics/Thunder puts it on ice. He was unpopular with the players and completely lost their attention during stretches last year and most of this season. This, despite yelling and screaming loud enough to wake the dead from the sidelines. After watching some of their games last week and hearing his voice through the noise, I can almost understand why Sprewell wanted to hit him. Some team will give Saunders another shot eventually. doublebogey, I'm with you on Dunleavy but he's consolidated his power now. I'm waiting for the first major blowup with BD. They don't seem to be getting along and BD was considered a coach-killer before Nellie. With Z-Bo arriving, that adds more potential for conflict and dysfunction.
While I'm no fan of PJ, early season firings for a crap-awful team that isn't good enough to do anything anyway is not a good sign. I have a feeling the Thunder and Clay Bennett could devolve into a 1980's/90's CLippers-esque NBA laughingstock with OKC being a revolving door for players and coaches.
Everyone knew it was a bad choice when the Sonics hired him. There's no way he would've gotten another NBA head coaching job had he not been on the Spurs' bench as an assistant. The guy is a bonafied chump as a coach in the NBA. He failed in Portland, he failed in Golden State, and now he's failed in Seattle/Oklahoma City. This team won't be great, but I don't know why anyone would think that Carlesimo would be the guy for a rebuilding process.
Why did the Sprewell-Carlesimo choking incident dominate the national headlines for weeks when Shawn Chacon's blatant assault of Ed Wade got nothing but a few page 12 mentions? Yes, that discrepancy is still bothering me.
Sprewell was an all-star player while Chacon is a relative nobody. Carlesimo is a lot more of a public figure than Wade is. Sprewell came back and returned to All-Star form in the largest media market in the United States. Is Chacon still in the league?
I agree with everyone who said Carlesimo is a below average coach. He has a college coach mentality which is maybe why the Sonics hired him. But you can't yell at men with families, millions of dollars, etc... which is why I never really understood the love affair with Sloan. Anyways, I don't see why he got fired its not like anyone could do any better. If he one 5 games at this point would it even make a difference? I mean who cares? I wouldn't be surprised if Durant and Green were complaining about him yelling.
Sloan is light years different from PJ as far as coaching style. Sloan understands that if your best players buys into your system and emulates your coaching style, everybody else falls into line. When Stockton and Malone bought into Sloan's system, everybody including the churches in the state of Utah bought into Sloan's system. And it continues into the new era of Dwill and Loozer. Plus winning silences all critics and that's what Sloan has done throughout his career.
